Tourists spent $105.66 billion in Hong Kong last year, up 14.1% on the previous year, the Tourism Board says.

Their expenditure covered goods and services, accommodation, shopping, meals, entertainment and transport, and receipts by Hong Kong-based carriers for inbound and outbound air, land and sea transportation.

Almost every market registered increases in total and per capita spending last year. The average per capita spending of overnight visitors (those staying one night or more) rose 4.1% to $4,663, while that of same-day in-town visitors grew 17.6% to $810. A key factor leading to the growth is the higher-than-average spending by consumption visitors from the Mainland.

February rise

Hong Kong received more than 1.93 million visitors in February, up 10.9% compared with the same month last year. Cumulative arrivals for January and February were 4.12 million, up 13.3%. While long-haul markets led the way, with Europe, Africa and the Middle East registering a 35.5% (125,379) increase and Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific growing 24% (40,762), the majority of key market regions also grew.

Arrivals from South and Southeast Asia recorded a 14.6% (152,886) rise, with the Americas (102,188) and North Asia (155,296) both growing 14.3%. The Mainland's 1.14 million visitors represented 9.6% growth, with only Taiwan showing a fall of 2.9% (176,180).